Real life is not simple.
Many days, the big things draw our attention and weigh us down. For me, it’s the situation in Ukraine, some family health concerns, and issues with our house. It’s easy to allow those burdens to define our lives, and I’d be lying if I said they never do in my case.
However, in this, my “last quarter,” I’m doing my best to take as much joy as possible in the little things as a series of simple bulwarks against the much bigger shitty stuff. Here’s my list of 10 little things that fight through the fog and give me joy.
- the feeling of a fountain pen as it writes the first words on a blank page in my journal
- a glass of good whisky
- the endless library of classical music you can find on YouTube
- settling in with a book with said music on and whisky (neat, of course) in hand
- fishing from the seashore, 200 m from our house
- seeing the lights from the windmills on north PEI, about 45 km away, flashing on a cloudless night
- sitting next to a bonfire in our yard (all too rare this year)
- listening to a gentle rain at night outside our bedroom window (also all too rare this year)
- surveying all the garden produce, canned and uncanned, that fills our kitchen in September
- a cat curled up at my feet while I do Nos. 3 and 4
Simple stuff. This isn’t a list of “big” things but, if it were, you, the people who read these posts, would be on it. Thanks for being part of this writing and later-life journey.
More Friday pot pourri
Savage – The Baits on the Skyline
What happens when I try to be “good” all the time
Regular mail: A new (old) way of communicating
The authoritarian state: “What do you think of our current President?”
American Administration “angry” at Putin for not showing his commitment to peace in Ukraine
“Ceasefire?” Trump, Putin, and the selling out of Ukraine
Will Allen Dromgoole – “The Bridge Builder”
“Three Million Acres of Flame” – A review
It’s OUR OWN stories that speak most to us!
“Imagining Imagining”: Wisdom from award-winning author Gary Barwin
Flag Day is February 15 in Canada
Global communication: These are the “good old days”
The blind men and the elephant
Resolutions for 2025 for a man in his mid-60s
Basketball has changed in the past 40 years – but has it changed for the better? (Part 2)
Basketball has changed in the past 40 years – but has it changed for the better? (Part 1)
Thanksgiving 2025: Gratitude for the big stuff
The Escuminac Disaster – Commemorating 66 years in 2025
Thanksgiving 2024: Gratitude for those who share this writing journey with me
Another trip to Ireland in the books in 2024
Interesting place names in New Brunswick and Alberta
Ukrainian independence in the face of cowardice and appeasement
Ukrainian invasion of Russia??!
Steiner – What does it mean to live a “good” life?
Bremen, Indiana – “A good town”
Unreturned messages: A New Brunswick particularity?
“Zelensky” (the boat, not the man) has moved on to other seas
Jourard – Life has value as long as a person has “meaningful projects”
Moving to a new community: Take the first steps
The brilliant thesis advisor I never had: Professor Ivan Lysiak Rudnytsky (1919-1984)